Improvement in toy repeating pistols



UNITED STATES PA ENT" OFFICE.

JOSIAH WARD OHILDS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN Tov REPEATING PIISTOLS.

Specification'forming part of Letters Patent No. 174,779, dated March14, 1876; application filed January 31, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOSIAH WARD Drums, ofBoston, Suffolk county, Massachusetts,

- have invented a Toy Repeating Pistol, of

which the following is a specification:

This invention is a toy, for the use of children, for shooting peas orother round pellets, my object being to produce, at small expense, a toywhich shall possess the great attraction of being a repeating ormagazine pistol, or one capable'of discharginga succession of pelletswithout reloading, and the invention consists in the combination ofcertain co operative mechanical devices, whereby, upon pulling thetrigger, a pellet is dislodged from the magazine and impelled forwardthrough the barrel, with a sudden thrust from a spring-impelled ejector,the whole being substantially as hereinafter described.

The drawings accompanying this specification represent, in Figure 1, avertical and longitudinal section of a pistol embodying my improvements,while Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same. Fig. 3 is aperspective view of the ejector and retractor, to be explained. Figs. 4and 5 are sections representing modifications of the invention, to behereinafter explained.

In these drawings, A represents the stock or frame, which receives theoperative mechanism, while B represents the handle and O the barrel, thebore of the latter being shown at D.

Within the upper part of the stock A, and somewhat above the level ofthe bore of the barrel, I create a channel, E, the outer end or mouth ofwhich is closed by a gate, F, to admit of ready insertion of pellets,and whose inner end terminates in a short downwardly-projecting bend, G,the bottom of which coincides with the rear end of such bore, thechannel E being, preferably, somewhat higher in rear than in front, andthe whole being so arranged that a pea or round pellet being introducedinto said channel from its outer end will, if unobstructed, roll downthe inclined plane to and through the vertical branch G, and presentitself to the rear end of the bore D.

Immediately below the channel E, I dispose" what may be termedja pair offorceps, a

composed of two delicate twin-springs, a a, secured at their baseswithin a' recess, 5 created in'the stock A, the forwardand'free',

ends of these springs terminating at-a point immediatelyin rear of thebarrel, and being at such a distance asunder as to intercept, with adelicate pressure or friction, the first pellet of the series withinthemagazine and'prevent the accidental escape of "this pellet while theejector is being drawn back.

J, in the drawings, represents the ejector for expelling th'e'pelletthrough the barrel,

such ejector being composed ofa bell-crank lever, which is situatedimmediately in rear of the rear end of the barrel, and pivoted at itslower part within a recess, K, formed in the lower part of the stock A,the upright arm L of this lever intercepting the bore of the barrel,while its lower arm N extends rearward, and constitutes the meanswhereby the movements of the arm L are effected, the fulcrum of thecrank J being shown at O as a horizontal pin, passing through suchcrank'f and the lower part of the stock.

P, in the drawings, represents a retractor; for actuating the ejector,composed of a T shaped piece of metal playing within the rear part ofthe recess K, and pivoted upon a horv izontal pin, Q.

The lower end It of the retractor P constitutes the trigger of thepistol, while its hori'-' zontal arm 0 operates,'in connection with thearm N ofthe'ejector J, to bear down such arm N and retract the arm L.The arm L of 1 the ejector J is forced forward closely up to the rearend of the barrel 0 by a'spring, 8, arranged in front of such ejectorwithin a'pocket, T, in the lower part of the stock A, while the arm 0 ofthe retractor is forced upward by resting upon the top of the ejector L,the

top ofwhich is preferably sloping, in order that a pellet resting uponit may, if leftwithout restraint, roll into the barrel, rather thanrearwardFinto- .{the a mechanism, behind the ejector. I; i A pull uponthe trigger R lowers the arm 0, and this arm, in its descent, abutsagainst and lowers the arm N of the ejectorJ and retracts its upper armL againstt hestress of the spring S to such anextent that, asthe armreaches its extreme rearward position, the pellet d is left free anddrops intothe bottomofthebranchchannel G and into the embrace of theforceps a, the outer ends of the arms a? of the latterserving, as beforestated, to exercise a gentle restraint upon suclrpelletjor offer aslight resistance to its forward movement, sufficient to retain it inplace for an instant, it being understood that as fast as one pelletdrops 'thos'e behindadvance'a" like distance. The @pulI uponthetrigger-"is' con-tinued until the arm L'is" forced to the rear ofthepellet d, as stated, when the arm opasses' below the' arm N; oftheejector J and the arm L of the latter isimpelled suddenly forward'bythe stress offthe' spri-ng-SZ and in'its progress interceptsthe-'ipellet d and'expels'ihe latter violently through the'ba-rreLytheforcepsa offering but slight resistance to'the forward mot-ion of thepellet, when the latter is's'truck by the arm L. As. the hold uponthetrigger is released, the armc is returned to its original position,in its a 'scent passing by *or behind the arm N, the contiguous faces-0fthe two being beveled to} permit of such passage. 'It will thus be"seen-that a pull upon the trigger releasesand 'e xp els from the barrela pellet from the magazine, and this movement may be repeated in rapidsuccession until the magazine is exhausted. -It requires but a veryshort space of time to'replenish the'magazine, by dropping the pelletsinto it through itsrear end. The magazine E may be of various forms, andthe pellets, in lieu of rollingor passing toward the barrel' by theirown momentum, may be impelled by a spring; butI prefer the arrangementherein shown.

The above combination of mechanical devices-embraces means whereby Ihave carried out-the object Ihave" in view, and 1 would state that I donot confine myself strictly to tl-iis'precisemechanism,as the samemay bevaried to' considerable extent without losing siglitgofthe novelfeatures of my invention. For instance, I have shown in Fig. 4 of thedrawings amodified arrangement of the prine'iples' of my'invention, inwhich the stock or frameisrcpresented at'A, the handle at B, the barrelat G, and the bore of the latter at I)", while the channel or magazinefor'conta'ining pellets is shownat E H in the drawings represents aspring-latch secured horizontally within a channel, 1 ere a'ted in thestock A, immediately below the channel or magazine E the rear end ofthis latch being secured to the stock, while its forward end is allowedsufficient lateral play to to pass from the latter into thebranch G, it

being observed that the free end of the latch terminates in a thin plateor shelf, a, which constitutes a gate to close communication between themagazine and barrel and hold back the pellets contained in suchmagazine. The natural and normal position of the latch is that last'described, and-it is maintained in this position by its own inherentelasticity, or by other suitable pressure.

J represents an upright ejector for, discharging or expelling the pelletthrough the barrel, this ejector being in the present instance simply awire, disposed within a chamber, b created within the stock A,immediately in rear of and intercepting the bore of the barrel, andbeing impelled forward closely up to such bore by its own stress.

K in the drawings represents a retractor, composed of a horizontal barplaying within a groove, I), created in the stock A, below and parallelwith the channel 1 this retractor, like the latch H being susceptible,at its front end, of horizontal play within its groove, but in anopposite direction, and turning upon its rear end as a pivot, a suitablespring, d being employed to drive the retractor forward bodily and toforce its free end in a lateral direction toward the bore of the barrel,and so that a book, 0 upon its front end shall engage the ejector J, the

inner side of the nose of this book being sloping, in order to ride overthe ejector, as hereinafter stated. The retractor K is pulled backwardby a trigger-lever L which is disposed'within the rear part of thechamber b and with its finger portion f pro and the magazine Econtaining a number of pellets, the innermost one resting upon the noseof the gate H A backward pull upon the trigger results as follows-theretractor K is first acted upon by such trigger directly and pulledbackward a short distance, carrying with it the upper end of the ejectorJ when the nose '5 of the trigger-lever L wipes against the sloping spurk of the gate H and begins the lateral movement of the forward end ofthe latter, which finally results in uncovering or opening the outlet ofthe magazine, these movements of the trigger, ejector, and gatecontinuing vuntil the trigger has nearly reached its extreme rearwardmovement, and the forward or free end of the gate has receded from underthe outlet of the magazine, and a pellet has dropped into thebranchehannel G and presented itself before the rear end of the bore ofthe barrel. I

The trigger is now pulled back a short additional distance, which bringsit to its extreme position in this direction, and as it reaches thislimit the hook e of the retractor K loses its hold of the ejector, andthe latter, by its inherent force, is suddenly driven forward andintercepts the pellet, expelling the latter through the barrel withgreat force, while immediately prior to this release of the ejector thenose 1? of thetrigger passes beyond the spur 70 and the gate H returnsto its normal position. The respective movements of the gate H andejector J are so adjusted or timed that immediately upon the release anddescent of a pellet from the magazine the ejector flies suddenly forwardin order to intercept such pellet before it can escape into the bore ofthe barrel, and the adjustment also provides, as before stated, for thereturn of the gate to its original or normal position immediately beforethe flight of the ejector takes place, in order to interpose a barrierbetween the released pellet and those behind it before such releasedpellet is expelled by the ejector, as otherwise the next succeeding onebehind would be caught and injury result. To enable the position of thegate H to be readily adjusted, it should be formed with a shortlongitudinal slot, a, through which the confiningscrew 1) passes.

As soon as the pellet has been expelled, as stated, the hold upon thetrigger is removed or relaxed, and such trigger returns toits originalposition by the power of the spring d consequently the retractor, by thesame power, is forced forward or returned to its original position also,its hook riding over the ejector J 3 in the act, and settling behind andengaging the latter, while the nose 2' of the trigger lever passesbehind and to the rear of the spur k of the gate H as shown in Fig. 4 ofthe drawings.

I claim- 1. In combination with the stock and barrel of a toy pistol,the following elements, namely:

First, an inclined or other proper magazine for containing a supply ofpellets, which are fed toward the barrel in a suitable manner; second, aswinging lever or its substitute for holdin g the supply of pelletswithin the magazine, and for expelling the lowermost or advance one ofsuch pellets; and, thirdly, of a pair of forceps, operating inconnection with the barrel and ejector, to retain said lowermost pel-.let until the same is struck and expelled by said ejector, the latterbeing retracted by the trigger, and impelled forward by a suitablespring, and the whole operating substantially as and for purposesstated. 7

2. In combination with the magazine E the gate H, with its lateralmovement, serving to retire and release a pellet and suddenly return andinterpose itself between the pellet thus releasedand those behind it,substantially as and for purposes stated.

3. The combination of the ejector J retractor IE or its substitute, andtrigger L with the magazine E and barrel U and the gate H or itsequivalent, substantially as and for purposes stated.

4. In combination with the magazine E and forceps a the ejector J,intercepting the bore of the barrel, when constructed and arranged tooperate substantially as and for purposes stated.

5. The combination of the spring-impelled ejector J, intercepting thebarrel, as stated, and retractor P, under such an arrangement that, by arearward pull of the trigger, the retractor retracts the ejector untilthe latter reaches a given point, when the retractor loses its hold uponthe ejector and the latter is shot forward, substantially as and forpurposes stated.

6. The construction and combination of the trigger-lever P and ejector Jsubstantially as herein described, whereby a complete backward pull uponsuch trigger results in a retraction and forward movement of theejector, essentially as and for purposes stated.

J. WARD CHILDS. Witnesses:

FRED. CURTIS, W. E. BOARDMAN.

